The Thief, The Friend, The Victim, and The Savior
by cubefreak101
Summary: This story is hard to summarize without giving anything away. Pokemon are the dominant species on the planet. Humans are long gone. Now one proffesional pokemon thief is going on the craziest adventure of her thieving career! Anonymous reviews now enabled
1. Chapter 1

The Thief, The Friend, The Victim, And the Savior

A novel (kind of) of Pokemon thievery and treachery

**Yeah, I'm gonna get one thing straight. I DON'T OWN POKEMON. I JUST LIKE WRITING ABOUT THEM. And another thing. This is going to seem choppy and completely pointless at first. But It's introducing (most of) the characters. R&R And please be kind. This is my first fic. **

Fear. Hunger. Haunted. Mild anger. All were feelings that were going through the young duskull's mind. He had nowhere to go, and was hopelessly lost in the freezing rain, bumbling about the seemingly endless trees and shrubs that made up the Ilex Forest. The feeling of being watched by the millions of eyes of the forest inhabitants was overwhelming. Normally a duskull would strike fear into passerby. They, along with the rarely seen dusclops, would be the ones to stare at the cowering local Pokemon. But Dawn had already lost his older brother Dusk in the forest, and he was feeling as helpless as ever. He was tired, weak, and soaked, so he would make easy prey for perhaps a ravenous group of sevipers.  
Dawn was praying with all his heart that he would find someone to help him. Maybe he'd find someone with food or shelter, or just kind words to give his heart hope and strength. But alas as he gazed throughout the forest and not a Pokemon in sight. He wandered into a small clearing drunkenly and was about to collapse from exhaustion, but something picked him up.

He didn't want to give any more effort into anything, but he opened his eye. A sneasel had picked him up. Wait... He was saved! His eyes wandered to a large pack that it was carrying. Even better, she had food and supplies! "Hey kid, you shouldn't be sleeping outside like this in a rain storm. You'll catch a cold." The sneasel spoke quickly and snappily. Like she was always in a hurry. "I could use some food..." Dawn made an effort to talk, but was much too weak to do it well. He spoke in a high-pitched squeaky voice uncommon for duskulls. Dawn thought he was saved, and that everything was going to be all right. But at the sneasel's reply, his heart sank like a stone thrown from the Hoover Dam. "What?" The sneasel cried out in surprise and frustration. "I get it! You're trying to con me out of my food! Well no can do! This is mine and you aren't going to take it!" With a sharp nod that was meant to say Dawn had no say in the matter, she turned to walk away. Dawn was desperate to do something. "Wait! Please wait! I'll do anything to repay you! I swear!" He ran after the sneasel who was now briskly walking away. He bumped into the sneasel's back and continued to spout his useless pleas. The sneasel whipped around and for a split second Dawn thought she was going to reconsider. But with an agitated yell of "NO!" that sent several groups of pidgeys flying into the sky, she kicked poor Dawn off into the woods.

"Well, that's one minor nuisance off my back." Thought the sneasel indifferently as she headed further into the forest. But one little duskull wasn't important. She needed to focus on the matter at hand. She had a job to plan. It would take quite a while, but soon that sneasel would become one of the best thieves in the pokemon world. She was sure of it.

An alarm rang out across Goldenrod City. Hombre had made a bad mistake. There was much more security than he'd expected, and in being a bit too careful, he'd tripped the alarms. The umbreon cursed himself for letting surprise get the best of him. He ran down the empty corridors leading away from the vault of the Goldenrod Regional Bank and Post Office, his nails clicking along the linoleum tile floor. He skidded to a halt just as he was about to round another corner. He heard the muttering of typhlosion guards investigating the cause of the now unbearable din that could probably be heard throughout the city and maybe then some. Hombre wasn't going to get out of here by normal means. The rings on his body glowed a golden color, and he was invisible to the naked eye. As the guards began to fan out to search the area, Hombre could tell they were agitated. He couldn't figure out why. There wasn't anything especially valuable in that vault besides the money, right? Their backs were flaring up like mad.

Hombre sneaked past the guards and was almost the exit when the alarm stopped and the whole building lost power. However, the umbreon wasn't complaining. He made himself visible once again, and was about to make a final leap out the door and steal off into the night when the collided with a short silhouette.  
A quick, snappy voice swore and shot at him, "So you're the little prick who set off these alarms! It's dumb Pokemon criminals like you that always screw up us mastermind's plans!" Hombre recoiled in surprise, but eventually lit the rings on his body to see who it was. Of all the people to bump into! That nosy little sneasel, Regalia, was here too! She was well known as the snobbish queen of petty theft and the occasional murder... Regalia interrupted Hombre's train of thought.  
"I'm here for the Millennium Key. They say it can open any lock, even 'magically' sealed ones. Just sounds like a fail-proof skeleton key to me. But you idiot thug-types wouldn't know anything about that type of artifact, would you?" Regalia looked down her nose at Hombre. "But now you've set off the alarm, and I won't be able to get to it tonight, or any other night for weeks! And everything was going so well too..."

Hombre could smell hostility. And Ms. Regalia here just reeking with it. Sure enough, the sneasel raised her claws in a fighting stance. "Beating you up will bring me lots of relief." She said simply and flicked her claws threateningly. This, Hombre could handle. He'd heard just about enough of this stuck up sneasel insulting him and calling him a common thug. Although, he noted one thing. Her taunting had revealed why the guards were so agitated. This Millennium Key was obviously something special. But there was no time to ponder such things now. He had a fight on his hands.

Hombre put out the glowing rings on his body and charged. Regalia nimbly jumped up and swiped her claws down, ripping a huge gash along Hombre's back. He fell and went skidding out the door and across the street. He could just make out the silhouette of a chuckling sneasel run off into a nearby alleyway. Knowing he'd been beat for now, Hombre licked some of the blood off of his back, and limped off into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: I don't know how long it takes on average for a story to get its first few reviews. But I'm submitting this new chapter to get things going and to give any readers out there a bit more to read. Btw, I'm sorry about the summary if it didn't sound very interesting, or it sounded cheesy. This story is hard to summarize and not give anything away. Okay, without further ado...

Chapter 2

Things had always been hard for Hombre. But what could he do? Just steal to stay alive. He gazed up at the moonlit warehouse window wondering what things could've been like. That was an odd lapse in his normal thoughts. He usually had to concentrate on the present, because that's what was important. Now, make no mistake; Hombre had become quite the skilled, thieving umbreon. It was just that he barely ever had any good luck. But now that his mind had gone into a pondering, thinking frenzy, he realized one bit of luck. He lived in that warehouse for a long time, with a pile of scraggly blankets spread out for a bed. His makeshift living quarters had the bed positioned directly under the window where the most moonlight could shine through. At midnight on every full moon, he was completely healed of any bodily afflictions.

Hombre felt the hunger that was always looming in his stomach during a late night like this vanish and be replaced with the feeling that he just eaten a very filling meal. The long gash along his back that was left as a parting gift from Regalia sealed itself almost immediately as the moonlight touched it. Hombre felt renewed, but at the same time, he was tired. He'd been out and about all day, and he needed sleep.  
Like a birthday, where you are excited when the day is finally here, but sad to know that it won't happen again for a long time, Hombre knew that it would be a while before his next healing session. This one would have to count for a while. But there was no need for worrying like that now. He curled into a ball in the scraggly bed, and drifted off into sleep.

Regalia however, was living with amazing comfort. After a bit of careful planning earlier that day, she knew that nobody was staying in the penthouse suite of the Goldenrod Luxury Comfort Hotel, and that the chansey maid had already cleaned, so wouldn't be in for a while. Then it was a simple matter of acting like a normal guest, slipping away into the bathroom and sneaking into the air vent system. According to her, the vent access was poorly placed. But they couldn't have kept her out anyway, she thought to herself. She had locked the door and for some extra protection used and ice beam attack to freeze it shut from the inside. It was thoroughly sealed and she kept the air conditioning up really high to make sure her barricade didn't melt. She expected to be living here for quite a while, or at least until she got bored or the security lightened up around the Millennium Key. (Author's Notes: I just realized that name is used in the yugioh anime. Sorry to anyone who thought that I was a stupid, blatant, name copier. I just thought it was a cool name... But I don't believe in changing any part of the story after it's already been read or published. So I'm keeping the name. I'm sorry if got anyone angry that I didn't give yugioh credit for the name. And so no, it isn't the Millennium Key from yugioh. It's a mysterious skeleton key.)

Both fugitives woke up the next morning thoroughly rested, and they were ready to start about their usual exploits. Regalia would lounge around whichever hotel room she seemed to be breaking into at the time and formulate plans and theories, facts and figures. Though her career of choice didn't like to show it, she was a very clever sneasel. She was currently was working on something a bit less into thievery, but more into mystery. She was researching the long-gone species known as humans. You could say it was a hobby of hers.  
According to her research, humans had been fairly vicious in nature. Generally they weren't very able-bodied, and but they remedied this by inventing various contraptions known as, from what Regalia's research showed, audeemobiles. They even made inventions that allowed them to fly without wings (Regalia couldn't find much on human anatomy, but she was quite sure they didn't have wings). These ingenious creations were called airplanes. But there was something particularly vicious about humans. They made inventions that were designed to capture pokemon. This was by far the fact that made Regalia glad that they were gone. But why were they gone? Nobody knew for sure. Some thought that it was a comet. Some thought that it was a cease in their primary food source (which was still unknown). Even though there was much speculation, Regalia knew exactly why. Very few pokemon knew why, but she was one of those few. There was no doubt that humans had become extinct because-- "Who's in there? We can hear a television, we know somebody's in there!" The voice of the sweaty ursaring receptionist broke Regalia's train of thought. It looked like her intended lengthy stay wasn't going to work out. She would just escape out of the window and slide down the side of the building. There was a huge smashing noise. They were trying to break through the icy barrier. Regalia knew they wouldn't be able to. But to her surprise, there was another bang on the door and a few flecks of cold water hit her face. They must have blaziken security guards. One factor she cursed herself for not thinking of. The barrier was weakening, and with a resounding smash, the remaining ice shards flew off the door as it came crashing to the floor. The ursaring was standing across the hall watching from behind two blazikens. One of the blazikens stepped into the room and approached Regalia. "Ma'am, I'm afraid you're going to have to come with us." The blaziken who had stepped forward took out a pair of handcuffs. Regalia just stared at the ground for a moment. The blaziken was watching her with a curious expression. But then the sneasel slowly raised her head. Her eyes and claws were glowing a soft blue. The security guards stared at her, dumbstruck.

Suddenly, she lashed out sending icy beams from her claws and freezing the nearest blaziken's legs to the ground. With a squeal of surprise, the ursaring ran down the hallway and out of sight. "Who's next?" Regalia said, trying to sound as menacing as possible. The other blaziken that was still standing in the hall ran into the room and, after throwing a quick glance at his frozen friend, threw a fireball from his open hand. Regalia up and over the fireball as it exploded on the expensive chintz carpet.  
Regalia nimbly landed on the attacking blaziken's head, then pushed off and out into the hall. She ran down the hall, taking the odd twist and turn until she found the elevator. She was easily able to outrun the blazikens. But she had to hope that security wasn't able to catch up while she was waiting for the elevator. She pushed the button to call the elevator. She waited impatiently for the elevator, tapping her foot on the floor. Soon she heard footsteps from up the hall. They were accompanied by voices. "I've called in for backup. You sure you can still run right? That ice looks like it left you awful numb." Apparently, the trapped security guard had managed to melt the ice that fused him to the ground. "Yeah, I'll be okay. I can't wait to arrest that slippery little criminal..." The other blaziken replied to his friend's concern. "Maybe she's just trying to use the elevator. Come on, this way!" Regalia was beginning to get even more impatient. Suddenly with a "ding" of relief, the doors opened. Inside the elevator were a nidoqueen and her nidoran son. Regalia ran in and skidded to a halt. She watched as the blazikens rounded the corner only to get a glimpse of her as the elevator doors closed. "Excuse me," Regalia said casually to the nidoqueen. "Are you going up or down?" The nidoqueen looked at her with a look of surprise.  
"Of course we're going down." She said. "The penthouses are on the very top floor." "Not fast enough..." Regalia muttered. The nidoqueen looked at her and opened her mouth as if she was about to speak, but Regalia quashed any hope of her being able to get out any words.

She put her head down to brace herself, then leaped up and burst out of the emergency roof exit on the elevator. She was now on the top of the elevator car, and true to her judgement, it wasn't going very fast. She jumped off the side of the car and spread eagle against the wall so she could slip past the elevator.  
After she was past the car, she pushed off of the wall with great effort and grabbed onto the pulley cords. She used those to slide down the elevator shaft much quicker than if she were in the actual elevator itself. Regalia stopped herself at the lobby and jumped to the doors. They were shut now, but she dug her claws into them and low and behold, they opened to reveal the lobby in all its splendor. She leaped out into the middle of the lobby. Several people gasped, others simply looked up from their continental breakfasts with mild interest. Soon they'd be interested. By this time tomorrow, her face would be all over the news. She flung herself at the revolving doors, spinning them around twice as fast as they were meant to go, and launched herself out into the street. A car stopped suddenly to keep from running her over. Unfortunately, it was a police car. Its lone occupant, a machop policeman, opened up the door with his gun drawn. "Excuse me, ma'am," The machop said, using his open door for cover. "You wouldn't happen to be a sneasel by the name of Rega--" He didn't finish his sentence for, in a fit of desperation, Regalia suddenly sprung forward through the car windshield, and drove away down the bright morning street. 


	3. Chapter 3

The Thief, The Friend, The Victim, and The Savior

Chapter 3

Author's Notes: Oh… my… god. I can't believe that I'm coming crawling back to this little gem after about two years. By now everyone who ever planned on following the story had their dreams quashed as my computer with lengthy Chapters 3 & 4 crashed, leaving me with no desire to rewrite them. By now I've forgotten a few intricacies, but I still have the basic idea for the story in my head, and I hope that I can salvage it for the good of the community, and for the good of VulpixTrainer, my only reviewer.

"Wisp and Marx! You had _better_ not be responsible for this!"

The agitated voice of a very old Alakazam rang out through the dojo. The "Bending Spoons Dojo" made for a very strange sight in Goldenrod City, for any passerby would see the usual skyscrapers, office buildings, and vendors' carts selling produce and meat and jewelry. Then they would spy, as if it had been dropped there accidentally, a feudal style dojo complete with sliding paper doors.

The owner of the Bending Spoons Dojo was a 240 year-old Alakazam named Fujita, who was nearing the end of his days. He had managed this small psychic boarding school for 68 years, next month. He hoped to pass his powerful knowledge of the psychic arts unto any and all who wanted it. However, two of his students where forced upon him by unloving and irate parents, hoping to get their children away. Fujita was very sympathetic for the young Ghastly and Psyduck, and tried to treat them in a fatherly manner.

They both, however, turned out to be quite a handful, as they quickly gained a reputation as pranksters, though they had both developed a close bond of friendship. Although the Psychic Master did not have much of a fatherly influence as he intended, he still cared for the boys through his teachings in their early years. He even watched them mature into the adolescent Haunter and Golduck they were now.

Wisp and Marx both did not know the soft spot Master Fujita harbored for both of them, and constantly thought him overbearing, which he was, in his own way.

The other students admired the two for their amazing ability, however. They both had the potential to become the next Grandmaster, though Master Fujita did not believe they would consider the position. Training was more like a chore to them, as the dojo was their home.

It was on this morning however; that we find an already very irate Mr. Fujita (due to his bad back being particularly painful that morning) being further annoyed by a prank no doubt played by the Golduck, Marx. It seems that he had changed the psychic energy lock on the door out of Fujita's quarters to a signature that he didn't recognize. When he tried to open the door he would get blasted back and he would suddenly shout, for no particular reason, "I'm a stupid old toad".

If this weren't such an annoying prank, Fujita would've been impressed, as it took quite a bit of mental energy and ability to perform such as feat. However, it required a large hole to be blasted in the side the Grandmaster's wall if he planned on leaving his quarters before 6:30, the time of his first class. And so he hobbled down the hall as fast as he could, yelling at them. This was the last straw. Wisp and Marx were getting increasingly belligerent, and he intended to make sure they learned their lesson.

"Who are you kidding!?" He shouted, trying to make himself heard to them. "Of course I know you did it! You boys had better show yourselves right now, or I'll have to come looking for you, and you know that I will find you!"

This seemed to either make them angry or scared, which of the two Fujita couldn't tell. But in any event, the two ambled from around a corner where the sleeping quarters led to the exit doors.

Marx began to speak. "Well gramps—

"—Or, in your own words, 'stupid old toad'" Wisp interjected.

"Yes, I guess that would be a better description. We've decided we've learned enough to make it in the _big, scary real world_," Marx said this like someone lecturing a child on the laws of traffic safety. "And we're leaving."

"For good." Wisp finalized.

The two turned and ran out the door. At first, Fujita made up his mind to let the boys go. Maybe they just were lost causes, and not good matches for the environment that The Bending Spoons Dojo offered. In a regular home, they would leave their family at about his time. Now that they had evolved (mentally and literally), it was probably the best course of action.

After a bit of thought, Mr. Fujita then realized that it would be ungentlemanly not to at least give them a farewell wish. He ran out after the boys to give them a last goodbye.

"You think we let him off a bit hard?" Wisp mused as he and his partner-in-crime left the dojo.

"Well, it had to be done." Responded Marx. "If we hadn't been so sudden and insistent, well, even you know that he would've figured out a way to make us stay just a little longer. And then where do things go from there, right?"

"I guess…" Wisp said.

The two walked (and hovered) out onto the long-stretching sidewalk. Sirens sounded in the distance, as they often did in the large city of Goldenrod. Looking down either length of the street for something interesting other than the usual desolate northwestern section of the city, Wisp and Marx decided their first stop would be the restaurant across the street – neither had had any breakfast that morning.

The two chatted for a moment and agreed on the decision. As they began to cross the street, the sirens from earlier became louder, as if they were getting closer. They wrote it off as nothing, and made their way across the pitifully deserted street.

Regalia was truly on the run now. With six police vehicles barreling after her, she was quite ill equipped to handle evading traffic and evading police cars. Traffic screeched to a halt as her police cruiser with the mangled windshield shot past them. She chanced a glance at the skyscrapers boxing her in from all sides. By chance she spied a calm, unmoving Shiftry sniper hanging out of a fourth story window, and he was about to take a shot!

Using her thievery-honed reflexes, Regalia jerked her cruiser at an angle so she was closely shadowing a nearby PNEM (Pokemon National Express Mail) truck. The Shiftry had no time to react to this sudden move, and fired. The large brown truck in front Roselia began to swerve left and right, and then suddenly took off with a burst of speed before flipping onto its side and spilling its cargo, stacks of flyers, out into the surprised Sneasel's face. As she swerved wildly to avoid the overturned truck and other traffic, she furiously ripped flyers off of her face.

The words heading a flyer caught Roselia's eye. The flyer read, "Come celebrate Oriental Pokemon Day! Enjoy our massive annual parade, taking place only in the northwestern sec of Goldenrod City!" The Northwestern area of Goldenrod City was never full of cars! From there, Roselia could gain ground, and lose the cops on the freeway near one of her "safe houses".

She made a quick right turn and lead the chase down another street. She noticed in her rearview mirror that a Machop policeman had decided to take the lead and was moving up ahead of the pack to ram her. He got right up beside her, with barely enough road to maneuver on. He rolled down his windshield in order to better call out to her.

"Stop this crazy, dangerous chase! There are already many people that have already been injured! Roselia, please give yourself up without a fight!" Instead of rolling her window down to respond to the Machop policeman, Roselia simply punched her window out.

"No way! That would take out all the fun of it!" She replied smugly. She shot a sharp look directly at the Machop. Her eyes glowed with darkness, and an invisible pulse connected the two Pokemon momentarily. Then the Machop's eye's glossed over and he slumped over his steering wheel. The police car he was driving skidded onto the sidewalk and hit a fruit cart. A shower of pears exploded from the sidewalk, many of which smashed against Roselia's already mutilated car.

She gave a smile of satisfaction. The police wouldn't try that again.

Suddenly she noticed two indeterminate Pokemon begin to walk across the road – right in front of her car! They somehow didn't even notice her! Well, it wouldn't be her first hit and run, so she pressed her clawed foot on the gas pedal even harder, and forged ahead, hoping the two Pokemon had enough brains to leap out of the way.

"Hey, Marx? What do you think that we should do now that we've—?

Wisp was cut off mid-question as he glanced down the street casually, in the general direction of Marx. What he saw gave him a sickened jolt of surprise. There was a pack of police cruisers, the leading car heavily mangled, speeding right at them, and it sure didn't look like they were planning on stopping!

"Hey Wisp, is something wrong?" Marx had not seen the police cars, and was oblivious. There were only mere seconds.

"Marx get out of the way!!!" Wisp shouted in response. Marx merely turned to face the police cars. He froze when he saw that he was staring directly into the eyes of a Sneasel driving a wrecked police car. The Sneasel had a look of disturbing determination on her face. As a reflex, Wisp went transparent, and the cars whipped through him harmlessly. He closed his eyes tightly. There was a thud, a surprised cry, and a sickening crack.

When Wisp opened his eyes, the police procession was long gone down the street. About ten feet behind the shakily hovering Wisp, was the battered, broken body of his only friend, blood pooling under his limp form.

"Oh my God!" The voice of Master Fujitsu came from the entrance of the Bending Spoons Dojo. He psychically enhanced his speed and rushed in a blur over to his pupil of many years. Wisp rushed to join him.

"Master Fujitsu… Can you use your Recover technique and heal him?"

"No… I'm sorry. That only would heal his bruises and flesh wounds. He," Mr. Fujitsu stopped for a moment and placed his glowing blue hands on Marx's chest. He slid them over his body in a circular motion. "He," Mr. Fujita continued. "Has massive internal bleeding. He…" The old master's voice cracked slightly. "He won't survive." The old Alakazam and the young ghost knelt beside their tragically taken friend of many years and wept in the middle of the deserted street.

**Author's Notes: Sorry we weren't able to see anything of Hombre here, but I needed to introduce the last character and his tie-in with our current characters. Just to let any readers know; that means that all the characters mentioned in the title have been introduced. Can you guess who is who?**


	4. Chapter 4

The Thief, The Friend, The Victim, and The Savior

**Chapter 4**

Author's Notes: Well, here's the next chapter. We'll see lots of Hombre here, and we'll move this story along. It seems that something doesn't want me to complete this story. A whole bunch of things have come up, leaving me little time to work on anything much. Once again I almost forgot about this story, but hopefully I can finally get the ball rolling and make some progress. Also, I'm adding some of the new pokemon from Diamond and Pearl in this chapter, and you can expect to see a few more as the story goes on.

Bright and early, Hombre was out on the streets, rustling up some breakfast. He spied the perfect victim as he snuck from back alley to shady back alley, watching the brighter morning sidewalks. A tired-looking Luxray commuter holding a Frost Shoppe donut bag in-between his teeth. The only target easier than a groggy commuter were oblivious tourists, which sadly, were nowhere to be found this morning.

Hombre walked out of the shadows and onto the street, eyeing the Luxray, whose eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep.

"Excuse me." Hombre stepped in front of the Luxray. The Luxray stopped and jumped back in surprise. People bustled around them.

"Could you take a look at this, and see if it's infected? Thanks." Hombre said this so quickly as he turned around and showed the navy-blue cat his tail, that the commuter had no choice to at least glance at Hombre's supposedly injured tail. When the Luxray leaned closer, Hombre slapped him across the face with his strong tail.

Hombre leaped up, grabbed the small bag of donuts from out of the dazed pokemon's mouth, and leapt into the safe shadows of the closest alleyway. A clean getaway, as far as he was concerned. He would have a much easier time thieving if he could turn invisible, but the sunlight prohibited him from using most of his powers. He was weak in the day, but Hombre lost none of his cunning reflex and agility.

After sitting on a trashcan lid and savoring his breakfast of a chocolate glazed donut and a custard-filled one, Hombre licked his paws clean. He may have been an impoverished thief, but that was no reason not to look as good as he could muster. Besides, people would immediately right him off as a bum if he looked scraggily, and he could not effectively rob them.

Hombre believed that his thieving mentality was unlike any other common thug. He was smart, and he could have been somebody: a constructive member of society. But it was all about the family into which he was born. His mother was a Glaceon, and his father was a Umbreon. He was abandoned when the Scarr Mobsters killed his father. The Scarr Mobsters were the main criminal organization in Goldenrod City, and had been known to make private dealings in Azalea Town and Ilex Forest. Thelonias James Scarr, a Zangoose, led them. Thelonias was the source of all the problems in Hombre's life, up until the point of Regalia rearing her ugly head. Anyway, after his father's brutal execution, his mother fled and left him, along with his father, to die. Hombre, then a young Eevee, managed to survive though. By begging for handouts on the street (nobody would deny a cute Eevee some change) and spending most of his time in secluded darkness, he became a Umbreon, like his murdered father.

For many years, the Scarr Mobsters had been after him, and yet he didn't know why. Could it have something to do with the small rock his mother had given him? But Hombre could not see the significance of a rock. The only reason he didn't toss it away was because it was the one thing that connected him with the family and life he could've had. Besides, there was just something he liked about that oddly shaped rock. It was very, almost perfectly round, and had one thick groove running all around it. The groove widened in one area, and a small circular rise appeared in the middle.

But life goes on, and Hombre could not be thinking about the past again if he wanted to survive the present. He moved on to another alleyway, watching for anyone interesting. Eventually, after finding nothing in the alleyways, he moved out onto the sidewalk, a bit emptier now that most commuters were at work, and most people were up to something in general. He heard sirens begin to blare, and by their steadily increasing volume, Hombre guessed the sirens were coming this way. Some police chase, no doubt.

He walked among rows of vendors, mostly bored with the complete lack of anyone in particular. They were all lazily reading magazines. There were some apples, there was a fish stand selling fried fish, and there was a vendor selling fruits that were less common in Goldenrod City, such as pears and pineapple.

Suddenly, Hombre's quick reflexes and powerful senses told him something was wrong. And when something was wrong, he high-tailed it away from wherever he was. He leapt into a nearby alleyway, just as a siren flared deafeningly loud and a scraping and crunching sound shot through the surrounding area. Pears and pineapple flew everywhere, and a few made it into the alleyway that Hombre was now tearing recklessly down as fruit rained upon him. Then, the noise ceased and the fruit stopped falling. There was a small moment of complete quiet, and then there were shouts and screams. Hombre decided to figure out what had happened.

He inched back out into the sunlight and looked over at the vendors' carts. Several were overturned, and the one carrying the exotic fruits was completely obliterated. The Pinser who manned the cart was pinned between the wall of a bed-and-breakfast and a police cruiser – the one that smashed the cart. The Pinser was invariably dead, and so was the Machop policeman whose body lay mangled on the sidewalk, thrown clear of the cruiser.

Bad driving? Hardly, it seemed. That police chase, whatever it was about, was getting pretty major. And where there were crimes and chaos, Regalia was sure to be there. Hombre thought for a moment, and decided that he would rather like to see how things turned out. But he had no idea where things were headed, and figured it would be futile to play cat-and-mouse with a police chase all day. He snatched up a chunk of pineapple and bounded back into his alleyway.

Oh for God's sake. The stupid Golduck didn't get out of the way. Well, what was Regalia going to do? Stop and go back and apologize to the corpse? She took a corner hard. In an attempt to mimic her, a police are spun out of control and burned rubber across the opposite street. There was no way they were going to get her. These were just naïve policemen. Sure, she could have just payed a fine for breaking into the hotel room instead of turning things into a high-speed hit-and-run chase, but where would the fun be in that?

There was no chance the police were going to get her though, so there was nothing to worry about.

"Is the barricade set?"……… "Well hurry it up then! That Sneasel is going to be coming this way any minute! Also, tell the men to make sure they've loaded their automatic rifles this time!" The formidable Machamp standing behind the hastily constructed sea of sandbags, spike strips, and armored police trucks knew he had loaded _both_ of his rifles.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Thief, The Friend, The Victim, and The Savior**

**Chapter 5**

**Author's Notes: Well here it is, chapter 5. And I bet you thought I'd never get it up because me updating is like an event comparable to Haley's Comet: It occurs only every eighty-something years. At least, I think. I'm not going to look it up. Really. Correct me in my reviews astronomy wizards! And without further a due, I present chapter five!**

That's it… Only a little farther… The rain had stopped, but it had done nothing to help improve Dawn's health. He had seen what looked like the entrance to a Ratatta den. It was the type that his dad had taught him to recognize for when he went hunting in Ilex Forest. With more and more effort, he began to float himself along, his ghostly tail dragging across the ground. His stomach was beginning to go numb form the hunger. He was afraid death may not be so far off. There had to be someone in there… Only a little farther… That's it… Keep dragging yourself along…

Hombre sat peacefully, curled up on a park bench and enjoying the beautiful sunlight that came with the day. When he felt himself dosing off, he shook his head in order to keep himself awake. He figured that his alleyways would be the best place to rest anyway. He couldn't let himself fall asleep in the middle of the park.

Hombre leapt quite a distance off of the old public bench, and headed for the park exit after landing softly in the waving grass. Hombre was actually a bit bored, he realized with surprise as he entered a back street. Maybe should try something a bit… rash, in order to rock the boat.

As Hombre thought about this, he walked down the street entered a wide alleyway. This one had an unusual architecture, seeing as how the sun was able to shine right over the smaller building that made up the alley (which reeked of something foul). This alleyway was not dark, but flooded with bright light.

A small splash sounded behind Hombre, causing his reflexes to kick in. He whirled around and came practically nose to nose with a very angry-looking Kabutops.

"Aaaaaargh!!!" The Kabutops gave a mighty slash with one of his scythe-like claws. Hombre barely had time to react as he leapt backward to avoid the deadly blow, which had been aimed directly at his head.

"Who are you!?" Hombre cried out. He was breathing heavily from the scare of having a Kabutops almost decapitate him.

"I think you mean _us_." A soft but piercing voice sounded throughout the alleyway. A bright flash a blue light appeared behind Hombre, and now he was boxed in, thanks to the Kabutops from before, as well as a Gallade.

"What do you guys want?" Hombre inquired, being wary of his front as well as his behind.

"Scarr… He sent us to find you, and we finally have." The Gallade's mystifying voice echoed again. "You were a tricky one to find, Hombre. You really need to stop moving around so much. It can be very confusing for us."

"Fine, I'll accept the fact that Scarr's after me. I already knew that. But what does he want!? He's been after me for all these years and I finally want some answers!" Hombre struck up as menacing a growl he could muster, raising his hackles. He didn't know if these guys would buy it, but it was worth try. At the very least, he could stall for time as he thought up a way to get out of this alleyway.

The Kabutops hissed, unfazed by Hombre's display. "Little Umbreon, what gives you the right to ask questions? Have you no brains?" The Kabutops dashed forward and swiped in a massive arc. The sweeping motion was easily avoided by rolling out of the way. He took the opportunity to dodge past the Kabutops. The rings glowed on his body for a moment, and then the mystic light fizzled out.

_No...! They chose the location of attack perfectly… I'm weak in this environment. But maybe I can still make a break for it!_

Hombre kept going, picking up his pace, but there was a low popping noise and in a flash a blue light, his path was blocked by the Gallade.

"Teleport…" He said. "A useful ability in pursuits…" The Gallade pretended to admire the blades extending from his arms for a moment. Hombre saw this fake opportunity to attack and tried to tackle Gallade to the ground. The Gallade spun to the side and brought down his blade of an arm across Hombre's side. The glowing leaf blade attack spattered drops of blood into the puddles that dotted the alleyway, as well as over the alley wall. Hombre fell head over heals and stopped rolling only when he hit some trash cans.

Light streamed into the darkness as the Kabutops speared a trashcan lid and hurled it down the alleyway.

"S-s-s-sh-shadow ball…" The injured Umbreon fired a half-hearted shadow ball at the clawed shellfish Pokemon, but it was so weak, it just disintegrated when it hit it target. Hombre convulsed with pain.

"Farria, get over here! I can't lift him myself without cutting him to ribbons. And we really don't want that." The Kabutops finished shouting at his Gallade partner, who apparently was named Farria. Then the he shot Hombre a nasty look from the side. "We really don't want that… yet."

"Oh no…" Regalia had just turned the corner and was faced with the street-long blockade. She turned the car quickly and skidded to a halt. She was about to turn around, but found she was boxed in by the pursuing police cars. She looked to her left. An abandoned, boarded up shop. To her right there was a warehouse that was securely barred from access thanks to numerous chains and bars across the windows and doors. This was going to be a tricky situation to get out of… How had the police outwitted her so badly? They were probably on alert thanks to that alarm Hombre set off last night. There was no way he was going to get away with that in the end. He would pay.

A surprise tactic would be best here… Do something unexpected. Regalia thought for a moment, blocking out the sounds of the megaphones, demanding that she step out of the vehicle, and the blaring sirens. Her eyes snapped to the roof of her junked police cruiser. The roof was practically gone as it was right now, so with a little help…

"Everybody hold your positions! Don't open fire until I give the word!" The Machamp, also the chief of police, held both of his rifles at the ready. All the Machokes and Machops around him gave an affirmative in some way or another. "Good! Now, when she gets out of that car to start fighting, that's when we open fire. The police behind her have evacuated their cruisers, unbeknownst to her. So I just want you all to hold stea—

"Sir! Look!!!" The police chief whirled around at the call of one of his underlings, and saw that the Sneasel had just hurtled through the roof of her cruiser. A few policemen began to open fire, until the Machamp shouted for them to stop and take cover. A rain of ice shard attacks fell down on the police's position. The razor sharp ice crystals stuck into the ground, the cars, the sandbags, and the policemen. A few defenders cried out as they were speared painfully.

The police chief hesitated for a moment, and then shouted with resolve, "OPEN FIRE!!!" Almost at once the command was obeyed, and a hail of bullets, sped towards Regalia. Every policeman fired until there were no more bullets in his clip, and when the firing died down, everyone was surprised to see that Regalia was still standing. Then they watched her stagger for a moment, then fall to the ground.

Panting heavily, Regalia could no longer muster the strength to stand. That protect attack had absolutely taken up all of her stamina. Blocking a good thousand bullets could take a lot out of a Sneasel. As she began to lose consciousness her last thought as she felt a Machop rush up and handcuff her was, "I'm really, really going to kill Hombre."


	6. Chapter 6

**The Thief, The Friend, The Victim, and The Savior**

**Chapter 6**

**Author's Notes: Well, here it is, another chapter. I bet you're surprised now, huh? I'm actually updating fairly quickly. What is this, the apocalypse!? Anyways, I just want to let you guys know that every single time I get another hit, or I'm favorited, or I get an alert, or I get a review, it inspires me more and more to get my rear in gear, so to speak, and move write another chapter. Everything you do counts to move this story along!!!**

A bright light flicked on, as Regalia regained consciousness. He groaned with fatigue, and could feel the aches seeping through her body. She was handcuffed to a chair, and an extremely clichéd bright light was shining in her face. She sat in a very plain little room, with a wooden table bolted to the floor and a tiled interior. A Machoke sat across from her in a chair not unlike the one she was handcuffed to, snoozing loudly. The Machamp who had turned the interrogation light on to wake her up gave her a cold stare for a minute. Then without warning, he violently back-handed the sleeping officer, knocking him out of the chair.

"Ack! I _have_ used a firearm before sir, just not on giant space rabbits… Cut me some slack…"

"Oh for God's sake…" The Machamp lifted the dreaming Machoke up by the neck, opened the door to the interrogation room, and was about to hurl him out against the wall when the Machoke's eyes snapped open.

"He he! Sorry sir, I couldn't resist. I'm awake, you don't have to—

The Machoke was surprised when the chief hurled him out the door anyway. Regalia just blinked, watching the whole scene, feeling slightly detached from the situation. She didn't flinch when the chief spun around and slammed his four fists down on table, causing it to rock against the bolts that held it in place.

"What is wrong with you Regalia!? Yes I know your name. Once we saw you up close, I recognized your smug little face. 'Master Pokemon thief' huh? Not so hot anymore, are you!?" The chief waited for a reaction, but was surprised when Regalia didn't shoot anything back. No witty remark, no smug comments. Regalia just laid her head back against the chair to try and keep the room from spinning. "Silent treatment, huh? That's just what I would've expected." It was a total lie. "Now! I'm going to ask you some questions _Miss_ Regalia, and—

--I expect them to be answered!!!" Hombre stared up at the Kabutops. He was chained by a collar to a gray brick wall.

"I asked you what you," Hombre coughed loudly. "What you wanted earlier, but you just attacked me. What's the point?" The Kabutops seemed very angered by this logic, his eyes going noticeably more bloodshot.

"Well, now I'm gonna tell you what we want. And we _will_ get what we want. Make no mistake. Scarr does not like to be disobeyed."

"Well, can I talk to him? I want to tell him something."

"Absolutely not! What right have you to demand things of our great Boss, Thelonias Scarr!? For your information, he's out on some very important business right now, and will be unable to talk to you." The Kabutops speared a canteen of water on the end of his claw and hurled it at Hombre. Hombre recoiled a bit, but didn't back down. In fact, he stared harder at the Kabutops, never blinking or showing any emotion. "Alright, now you will know what we want. We want that little 'rock' you keep around. And I know you're full of questions, so don't ask! Boss didn't tell me that much about it. All I need to know is this simple thing; Where is—

"-- your brain, you stupid Sneasel!" The Machamp was getting increasingly annoyed by Regalia's loopy state. "You killed 16 civilians, 4 officers, and injured 28 other people! All because you broke into a hotel room!? What the hell is wrong with you!?" Regalia was beginning to regain her senses. She was coherent enough to give a reply.

"I guess I'm just… eccentric." The reply angered the chief even more, if that was possible. He turned around, flung the door open, and stormed outside. It was closed again by the Machoke he had so graciously thrown out earlier. Regalia was definitely back in the game now. She began to concentrate some of the energy that she had restored into making the beginnings of an ice beam attack. It began to freeze the handcuffs. She concentrated for several minutes, feeling the ice crystals slowly move up and around the handcuffs. Just a little bit more and… There! The handcuffs were completely frozen over. Regalia panted for a moment. She had really been drained by protect move. She didn't think that she ever had been, or ever would be, this tired in her entire life.

"Oh c'mon! It can't be _that_ important to you!" The Kabutops had begun making long, deliberately slow scratched across Hombre's back. As the blood slowly seeped down and rolled off of his back, he gritted his sharp teeth against the pain, never taking his stare away from the Kabutops. The Kabutops was so intent and concentrated on breaking Hombre's will, that he leapt up in absolute surprise when his cell phone rang. He forgot Hombre was in the room for a moment and dashed over to grab his cell phone, which was laying on the table. He clumsily flipped it up in the air and tried to catch it between his two scythes, but it slipped out and fell to the floor. He grunted in despair, and tapped the "Accept Call" option with his claw. Muttering something about really needing to get a hands-free, he got down on his knees and pressed his head up against the cell phone. Hombre chuckled at the sight of this, which made the Kabutops' head snap up in his direction and give him an evil eye.

"Yes, he's still here. Of course. Well, no, not yet. WELL HOLD ON A MINUTE! THIS LITTLE—Humph. Fine, fine. What!? At the police station!? Why the hell…? Oh yeah, I know, it's none of my business. Fine. I'll keep working on him. Yeah. Goodbye." After the Kabutops hung up, and then shouted into the phone, with nobody else on the other end, "Nice talking to you too, you jackass!" He sighed, and then turned to Hombre. "Now about you, you pesky little thing." He hit his claws together menacingly, making a sharp sound, and advanced on Hombre. I'll ask you one more time. Will you please tell me where your "heirloom" is?" The Kabutops was met with Hombre's cold silence once again. "Alrighty then. I actually like it better this way."

Regalia was still very weak, and would be able to break the frozen handcuffs. If only she had a little more time to regain her strength. She struggled with them, and after a while of effort, she heard a small crack. She was making some progress. The only question was what to do once she was un-cuffed. She looked around the room. Completely devoid of anything but the walls, ceiling, floor, and furniture. The room must have thick walls, because she could barely hear anything from outside. Just very muffled sounds. She listened for a moment, trying to judge how thickly she was boxed in. At the same time, she was also struggling against her restraints.

Suddenly, there were some much louder sounds. Fire crackers? What would be the point of having fire crackers in a police station? No, those were… Gunshots! There were a few scattered shouts, and more gunshots. She saw shadows flying across the tinted glass window that was built into the door. She jumped when two bullet cracks (apparently the window was bulletproof) appeared in the door window. This just confirmed her suspicions about gunfire. But what could be happening outside? Was the police station under attack or something. Regalia was really not thinking quite straight. She let out a long sigh. Whatever was about to happen, was about to happen and Regalia couldn't stop it.

The door was flung open and the full sound of what was going on suddenly hit her. The shots, cries, and ricochets were deafening. The reason the door was thrown open was immediately apparent. The Machop with two bullet wounds to the chest fell back and crashed into the chair and table, passing out. Two Machokes wielding heavy shotguns backed up past the door, moving down the hallway. Suddenly, automatic weapon fire sounded just outside the door and Regalia saw blood fleck the wall. The person or people on this rampage were moving towards her room. She watched the doorway intently, completely forgetting the handcuffs. To her great surprise, the man she knew as Thelonias Scarr, the crime kingpin Zangoose, stepped through the doorway totting an automatic rifle. He was easily identifiable thanks to the two long scars that spanned his face from chin to ear, creating an "X" on across his face.

"Theo! I can't believe that you would lay assault to an entire police station just for little old me!" Scarr grunted. "Oh, don't be like that! You know you missed me!"

Scarr spoke with a gruff, wheezy voice. Regalia knew this was because he was missing a lung. "Theo" used to smoke a lot. "Don't call me Theo. You know how much I hate that." He walked around behind Regalia, setting his gun down at the door. and with a lightning fast swipe broke her handcuffs off. "We have to go." He stated simply. He turned to leave, but his exit was blocked by the police chief. The formidable Machamp stood there, his eyes beadily fixated on Scarr. Without a word between the two, Scarr sent a swipe with blinding speed towards the Machamp's head. The chief blocked it easily and threw a quick right hook towards Scarr. But Scarr used the momentum of his earlier blocked attack to spin around behind the Machamp. The force of his missed attack sent him stumbling forwards. Scarr jumped up and slammed the chief's head onto the table, taking a pair of handcuffs from the chief's belt and cuffing his lower set of arms. Grunting, the Machamp swung his other set of arms wildly around as he turned on Scarr.

"Wow, that absolutely failed to disable me. Nice try you scum, but I have twice the number of arms for bringing twice the amount of pain to people who think they live outside the law, like you!"

"I really wasn't trying to disable you. I was just distracting you." A scared look of realization spread across the chief's face as he remembered Regalia. He turned to look at where she was, but felt and unbelievable pain in the back of his neck. He fell to his knees, clutching his neck where Regalia had just struck him with her claw. Blood was freely flowing. He then fell to the ground, face-down with blood pooling upon the floor. The last thing he saw was Scarr's crossed arms and the contemptuous grin the had spread across Scarr's face.

Scarr turned to Regalia. "Now, we _really_ need to go."

Regalia. That was the name. That was the name of the Pokemon who had killed Marx. He would find her. Make no mistake. Wisp would find her, and make her pay. Scum like her had no place staying alive in this world. It had begun to rain, but Wisp just went transparent so the rain would pass through him as he floated down the sidewalk. Night had approached, and Wisp was approaching the police station. The news said that Regalia's rampage had ended and she had been captured. She was probably being interrogated right now, but right now she deserved the death penalty.

As he rounded the block, he saw the police station in chaos. A police car was burning out front, the front windows were smashed in, and a fire and broken out somewhere. Nothing ever went right for Wisp. But this time, he was going to make things go right. He dashed toward the police station, focusing all the energy he had on killing those doing this.


	7. Chapter 7

**The Thief, The Friend, The Victim, and The Savior**

**Chapter 7**

**Author's Notes: Yay! New chapter! Not much to say about this one. Or anything for that matter. Not quite as fast as #6 was in getting up, but c'mon, I'm not a writing god! Oh! I almost forgot! I do have something to say! This is something fun and interesting that my readers can do. To participate, just leave a review with a the name of one of your favorite Pokemon, and I'll be sure to write one of them into the story.**

**EXAMPLE: "wow, I liked the characters and the premise, but I can't believe how slow you update :( Also, can you put a Prinplup into the story? He's my favorite Pokemon!!"**

**The only rule is that there can be no legendary Pokemon, or Pokemon that I have already put into the story. So, no Machop, no Sableye, no Kabutops, etc. Also, I may be planning to put some certain Pokemon into the story at a later date, and if I already have planned for them to appear I won't be putting them in. I'll let you know in my author's notes if I can't put a Pokemon in, so you don't have to wait around forever wondering when I'm going to add your Pokemon **

"I have some of my men covering the exits." Scarr had grabbed tightly onto Regalia's wrist, and was practically dragging her down a hallway. A Sableye clutching a pistol rounded the corner at the end of the hall and immediately took cover. Upon spotting Scarr, he spoke in a strange, pulsating sort of voice.

"You don't want to go that way, sir! The cops have set up a blockade, and are ready to use tear gas to run through us!" With those words, he peeked around the corner to look at the hall he had just run down, and quickly fire off a couple of rounds. With out a single word, Scarr turned in the opposite direction and took another hall, which led them directly into the office portion of the police station. There were two Sableyes as well as Farria the Gallade firing from cover at five police officers that Regalia and Scarr couldn't see. Scarr bent down to talk to Farria, dragging Regalia down with him. He was about to speak, but was interrupted by Regalia.

"You can't drag me around like a piece of meat, you know!" She shook his heavy paw off of hers. "Theo, I really didn't need all of this! I could've got out myself! But still, I'm flattered that you would think of me…" Scarr ignored her, and instead spoke to Farria.

"I think we're ready to pull out. I've got Regalia." Farria seemed to not hear his boss for a moment, popping up over the pile of office rubble they were huddled behind to fire off an entire clip wildly from his Uzi. Firing from the other side stopped momentarily, then recommenced with vigor. Farria now turned to Scarr, and acknowledged he was there.

"All right, but I'm not sure we'll be able to pull everyone out quite yet. There's—A loud bang sounded from somewhere close by. "There are a lot of cops who set up blockades around the station, and with this being one of the biggest police stations in the world, we have a huge network of hallways to filter out." He reloaded his gun, and the empty clip that he had just fired began to glow a soft blue. It was lifted into the air without being touched and flung over cover, where it caught fire and exploded like a firecracker. There was a series of painful sounding groans from the police side, and and Farria stood up, motioning for everyone to move. The Sableyes stood up and ran ahead into a ruined private office, where they took cover and slammed the door, and Farria motioned for Scarr and Regalia to follow him.

As they ran across the sea of collapsed cubicles and bullet-riddled computers, one of the Machokes shook off the shock of being almost blown up by a gun clip, and raised his shotgun, which aimed right at Farria and Scarr. Regalia, who was lagging behind a bit, held up her claw, in which a jagged ice shard formed, and threw it with precision at the Machoke. The icy dagger connected with its target, and the Machoke fell backwards against the wall, shaking as he looked down at the shard that sprouted from the middle of his chest. Before passing out, he managed to squeeze the trigger on the shotgun, but it missed by a mile and hit the fluorescent light above Regalia, which shattered.

Ducking their heads, the trio dashed into a hallway, which had the corpses of a Sableye and two Machops strewn down its length. They nonchalantly stepped over the bodies, and turned the hallway, only to be staring right at a pile of desks, and three Machokes with automatic rifles using them for cover. It was one of the blockades. In a split second, the air rippled in front of them as bullets were fired from both sides. None of the shots seemed to connect. Scarr and Regalia looked to Farria, confused, and saw his eyes glowing that same shade of soft blue.

"I put up a bit of a shield for us. Now you two, go! Get out of here!" Scarr smiled. When he smiled, Regalia noted that it always seemed maniacal. Like he was ready to massacre children or something.

"Farria, the way you're going, you're going to be up for a promotion soon. I mean, you saved my life, and you helped capture that little whelp, Hombre. I really think that—

"Wait a minute!" Regalia turned around and was about to run in the opposite direction, but had frozen. "You mean to say that you captured Hombre!? For real? Oh I can't wait to see the look on his stupid little face! I vowed I would kill him and thanks to you Theo, I can! You do everything for me!" She gave Scarr a sudden and rib-crushing hug. Scarr looked at her for a moment, and gave a little blush.

"Uh, boss?" Farria had interrupted. The Machokes had regained their composure were reloading, ready for another volley of bullets. "I mean no disrespect whatsoever, but WE REALLY NEED TO GO!!!" Sweat was beginning to permeate his face. Without a word back to the Gallade, Regalia and Scarr took off. An explosion of gunfire from the large office room they were just in gave the two a sudden burst of speed. Scarr began racking his brains, trying to remember something.

"Now, where's the exit again? Do we need to go left or…" He began mumbling to himself as Regalia noticed a sign that said "EXIT" hanging from the ceiling, pointing to their right.

"This way, Theo!" She shouted as she grabbed his arm and swung him to her right. Regalia took the lead now. A Grovyle with a stubby cigarette in his mouth was covering an intersection of four hallways with his automatic rifle. Turning suddenly to face them, he seemed relieved it was Scarr.

"'Ey thar, Boss. Almost turned me gun on yeh! Looks like yeh got lil' Regalia thar, so are we movin' out?" Scarr gave quick nod, and as he reached the intersection, he turned to strafe across it, and fired his gun, pegging between the eyes two Machops that were rushing down the hall. The Grovyle whistled at the skill of the shot, and moved ahead of the pair of infamous criminal friends to head up the dash for the exit.

After a bit of running, the three came upon a pocket of Sableyes armed with pistols, in a heavy firefight with what sounded like at least ten policemen. The Sableyes were all taking cover, dotting the hallways leading up a large, open room. The Grovyle looked the situation over for a moment, and then spoke.

"I thin' this is what's left over of me squad. We was supposed t'detonate the police arm'ry, in coordination with Farria's team, who were gonna lay waste to the office wing. There was supposed to be two big distractions at opposite ends 'o the police station, but we got 'eld up and separated when some Shiftry ambushed us…" He suddenly went deep into thought, letting his weapon fall limply, held in one hand, at his side. He made some hand movements, which were indicating that we was trying to retrace his steps as he and his squad attacked the police station. "Well, s'far as I can see it, we—

"Get down! Cover your eyes!!!" Scarr suddenly shouted, quickly following his own instructions. The Sableyes looked around, confused. The Grovyle, as well as Regalia, who had been listening intently to the Grovyle's recollection of the attack on the police station, only had seconds to be as surprised as the Sableyes. There was a quavering cry from one of the pistol wielding minions of "Flash-bang!" and the world exploded full of stars and pearly-white color, which seemed to seep over everything in Regalia's vision. The world had gone completely quiet as well, except for an unpleasant ringing noise. Regalia suddenly felt extremely weak, and her knees buckled.


End file.
